Candidate wants Renuart out, another wants 'real conservative' to get elected

In the race for the Florida House of Representatives, Rebecca Sharp and Angela Casey are the primary “spoilers.”

Sharp, a Ponte Vedra Beach resident making her first foray into politics, initially registered in January to run as a Republican against incumbent Rep. Ronald “Doc” Renuart.

Because of redistricting, Republican candidates Kim Kendall and Mike Davis were put in the same district as Renuart.

“I just wanted to run against Doc,” Sharp said.

So, when the district was redrawn, Sharp reregistered with no party affiliation, guaranteeing her a spot on the ballot in November against the Republican nominee, who she thinks will be Renuart.

This move closed the primary election to Democrats and independents.

Sharp is a registered no-party-affiliation voter and chair of the Republican Liberty Caucus of Northeast Florida. She says she sees herself as “a George Washington-type Republican.”

She worries that Renuart has gotten away from his tenets of family values, something she hopes to bring back to the Legislature with her platform of strict budget cuts and education reform, including reducing salaries in the state Department of Education.

Sharp thinks running as a no-party-affiliation candidate will help her win.

“I think it will work to my advantage,” she said. “I’m kind of a sleeper candidate.”

The day before Sharp’s reregistration with District 17, Casey filed paperwork to be added to the ballot as a write-in candidate.

Casey, a registered Republican and member of the St. Augustine Tea Party, wrote in a brief email that she decided to run because “Republicans in the Legislature have all but abandoned their espoused values: limited government, fiscal responsibility and the promotion of the free enterprise system.”

Her platform includes increased government transparency, school choice vouchers and a statewide charter for virtual schools, and the elimination of targeted business tax credits and exemptions. She did not comment on her role in closing the primary to independents and Democrats.

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